Hey Danny,
You keep up with college football? WTF were you thinking? If you talked Nick Saban into coaching here with a lifetime contract paying $100 a year you'd get ripped to shreds. You won't make a decision during your entire Knoxville tenure that will be embraced by more than 1 of 10 people who call themselves fans. It's gonna be hard, probably a dumper fire, but here's a little advice:
1. Always mention Peyton Manning when you do a conference. Everyone thinks he won a National Championship.
2. Don't approach this as a rebuild. You get a pass for not winning it all next year as long as we are in the Championship game.
3. Do not try to hire a coach who hasn't won at least one National Championship AS AN SEC COACH.
4. It's ok to use folksy terms like "Aight" early in your tenure as long as you win. Otherwise we'll find little grammar slip-ups and make fun of you.
5. Do not ever reference academics or even acknowledge existence of such. This is a football school.
6. You'll find we are accepting of gangbangers as long as they perform well on the field, but do not even consider someone who was accused of something then later exonerated beyond any possible shadow of a doubt at multiple levels of any possibility of misdoing. You can use this to your advantage both in hiring a coach and supporting him afterwards.
7. Don't worry about wearing a mask. None of us understand how they work.
8. Some reporter is going what your top 3 challenges are as AD. Best for you too just feign disgust and say "Dude, I'm here to hire a football coach. The rest of this sh**show is going to have to find it's own way".
Anyhow, good luck with it.